Jeff Bova (born Jeffrey Bova in 1953) is an American musician. He has been active in the music industry since the mid-1970s, contributing to recordings by significant mainstream artists like

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

, Blondie,

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Bill Laswell and

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

, Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson, Meat Loaf, Robert Palmer, Missing Persons,

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, actor and radio broadcaster. He was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band the Stooges, who were formed in 1 ...

, Iron Maiden,

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...

, and the Sisters of Mercy among others.

Early life

Born in Washington D.C., he grew up in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. Being the son of a professional trumpet player, he took the instrument up for himself during elementary school and continued with it at the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

and the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...

. Although he also had arranging and composition lessons by trumpet legend Maury Deutsch, he would choose to specialize in keyboards instead. After leaving college he participated in a Connecticut-based jazz fusion band called "Flying Island" and later on he moved back to New York to find a place into the R&B group Change (from 1982 to 1984).

Career

1980s

In 1983, and after having worked with Nona Hendryx, he met

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

bassist and

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

Bill Laswell, who was set to produce

's '' Future Shock'' (the first part of the latter's "techno-funk" trilogy). The tour in support of that album found Bova on Hancock's live band, as he was proficient in the ARP Chroma (a much-heard instrument on ''Future Shock''). He would work with him for the next five years, contributing to the recordings of the final part of the trilogy ('' Perfect Machine''), while he also programmed and composed tracks for several of the soundtracks Hancock has been working on, including that of the Sean Penn film '' Colours''. Soon after, he started working on numerous projects that were held in the Power Station and eventually obtained a room of his own there (courtesy of the studio's owners Tony Bongiovi and Bob Walters). In 1987, fellow Power Station "resident", bassist Bernard Edwards (of Chic), formed the rock-funk supergroup

Distance Distance is a numerical or occasionally qualitative measurement of how far apart objects, points, people, or ideas are. In physics or everyday usage, distance may refer to a physical length or an estimation based on other criteria (e.g. "two co ...

, with Bova on keyboards, Tony Thompson (also of Chic) on drums, future Bad Company member Robert Hart on lead vocals and Eddie Martinez on guitars. They released only one album, ''Under the One Sky'' (1989) on Reprise Records, which failed to chart.

1990s

During the 1990s, Bova achieved great commercial success as a producer of

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-winning album '' Falling into You''. He also played Hammond organ and synthesizers with Meat Loaf on '' Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell''. "Back Into Hell", an instrumental track on ''Bat Out of Hell II'', was arranged and performed entirely by him, while "Fiesta De Las Almas Perdidas", a short song also written by Bova, was featured on Meat Loaf's 1995 album '' Welcome to the Neighborhood''.

Partial discography

Partial Jeff Bova's discography, as a keyboardist, composer, arranger and producer: *'' Visions'' – Bunky Green (Vanguard, 1978) * '' Riptide'' - Robert Palmer, 1985 * '' Starpeace'' -

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

, 1985 * '' True Colors'' - Cyndi Lauper, 1986 * '' Eat 'Em and Smile'' - David Lee Roth, 1986 * '' The Bridge'' -

, 1986 * '' Color in Your Life'' - Missing Persons, 1986 * '' Hearts In Motion'' - Air Supply, 1986 * '' Floodland'' - The Sisters of Mercy, 1987 * '' Perfect Machine'' -

, 1988 * '' Instinct'' -

, 1988 * '' Ooh Yeah!'' - Hall & Oates, 1988 * '' Original Sin'' - Pandora's Box, 1989 * '' A Night to Remember'' - Cyndi Lauper, 1989 * ''

Jody Watley Jody Vanessa Watley (born January 30, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter and producer whose music crosses genres including pop, R&B, jazz, dance and electronic soul.Paoletta, Michael (February 22, 2003) "Watley Relaxes In The Setting of The ...

'' -

, 1989 * ''Under the One Sky'' -

, 1989 * '' Journeyman'' -

, 1989 * '' Stranger in This Town'' - Richie Sambora, 1991 * '' Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell'' - Meat Loaf, 1993 * '' Blink of an Eye'' - Michael McDonald, 1993 * ''

HIStory History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

'' -

, 1995 * '' Welcome to the Neighborhood'' - Meat Loaf, 1995 * '' Falling into You'' -

, 1996 * '' Stories Told & Untold'' - Bad Company, 1996 * '' In Deep'' - Tina Arena, 1997 * '' Brave New World'' - Iron Maiden, 2000 * '' Talk to Me'' - Joe McIntyre, 2006 * '' Bag of Bones'' -

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, 2012 * ''Opus'' - Jane Badler, 2014 * '' The Book of Souls - Iron Maiden, 2015 * '' Gracia'' - Mari Hamada, 2018 * '' Soar'' - Mari Hamada, 2023

Notes

"Jeff Bova Website"

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bova, Jeff Living people 1953 births American keyboardists American male composers 21st-century American composers Record producers from Washington, D.C. Record producers from Connecticut Musicians from Washington, D.C. Grammy Award winners People from Old Greenwich, Connecticut 21st-century American male musicians Change (band) members Distance (band) members